Miscellaneous

🍽 Ikea launches its first high street restaurant in London, replacing a former Wasabi on King Street, with 75 seats available. The menu, similar to in-store restaurants, features signature meatballs at £5.50, battered haddock for £6.95, penne pasta at £2.95, and a full cooked breakfast priced at £3.75. Matthew Gould, market manager at Ikea London City, highlights the affordable dining options and the iconic Swedish meatballs as key draws for customers.

🧀 Burrata cheese is now on 8.6% of U.S. restaurant menus, a 30% increase over four years. This mozzarella variant, filled with cream and often more mozzarella, is popular in salads, pizzas, pastas, appetizers, and shared dishes. Demand is driven by a preference for premium dairy and Mediterranean flavors, with high awareness among vegetarian and Asian consumers.

📖 Leigh Anne Zinsmeister, current Group Content Manager since Feb 2020 at Informa Restaurant and Food Group, managed digital content from April 2018 and was a producer there since June 2016. With a journalism degree from Arizona State University, she also has roots in Phoenix, Dallas, Cleveland, and lives in New York City. Past roles include Mail Online Community Moderator (Mar 2014-Jun 2016) and Wire Editor at Gannett (Jan 2012-Mar 2014). Contact: [email protected]

🍣 Itsu introduces dragon rolls to Tesco's £5 meal deal from 21 October. Sushi options: teriyaki salmon, vegetable crunch, and katsu chicken. Tesco insights show sushi now surpasses smoked salmon sandwiches as the UK's preferred premium lunch. Itsu's years-long development overcame quality challenges, including rice hardening. The solution: short shelf life, controlled temperature and pH. Itsu's new frozen products: two dumpling varieties, three vegetable sides.

📖 Ron Ruggless is the senior editor for Informa Connect's Nation's Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality since 1992. Previously, he worked at Dallas Times Herald as restaurant critic, assistant business editor, food editor, and lifestyle editor from 1982-1991, editing Zagat Dining Guide for Dallas-Fort Worth, and has contributed to Food & Wine, Food Network, and Self magazines. He frequently participates as a moderator and panelist at foodservice industry events. Contact him via email at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter (@RonRuggless), LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/ronruggless), Instagram (@RonRuggless), and TikTok (@RonRuggless).

📖 Bret Thorn, senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality, hosts "In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn" podcast. He's written for The New York Sun (2005-2008), covered business in Thailand (1992-1997), and has been with Nation’s Restaurant News since 1999. A magna cum laude Tufts University graduate, Thorn also studied at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and in China. He won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal Award, joined Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014, and resides in Brooklyn, N.Y. Contact him at [email protected] and follow on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

🎄 Desenio announces the launch of three Holiday Collections for the festive season aimed at creating treasured memories. Collections include the Family Festivities collection with traditional colors, the Happy Holidays collection with fun and playful prints, and the Winter Wonderland collection featuring serene winter scenes. These collections cater to different tastes, from family gatherings and festive joy to creating a cozy winter retreat.

🍺 Goodrays offers a range of CBD drinks with no artificial ingredients, added sugar, and they are 100% vegan. Available at Waitrose, each can has 33 calories and includes a daily dose of vitamin D. For Sober October, Goodrays collaborates with CleanCo to create non-alcoholic drink recipes. A 4 x 250ml mixed pack has an RRP of £7.50. Recipes feature various ingredients such as CleanCo's non-alcoholic spiced rum alternative, Clean R, and Goodrays' CBD drinks in flavors like Blood Orange & Grapefruit, Elderflower & Yuzu, and Passionfruit & Pomelo.

🍴 Big Dill Hospitality, led by Omar Flores and the Marshi family, started with Whistle Britches in 2016, now has three locations, and opened Muchacho in 2019, which has two locations. Even Coast, focused on seafood, steak, and pasta, opened in Addison, Texas on August 19, seating 150 people inside and 75 on the patio. The group plans to open steakhouse Casa Brasa in University Park in spring 2025, featuring Mexican and Japanese elements, and a Mexican seafood concept in the Design District in summer 2025.

📊 Thirteen sectoral employers' organisations formed the European Employers' Institute (EEI) to bolster competitiveness amid economic challenges and an ageing population. The Brussels-based EEI, including Ceemet and ECEG among others, will research common interests to influence EU social and employment policy. The Draghi Report shows that nearly 70% of European workers favour government AI restrictions to protect jobs. EU employers' AI adoption lags, with Dutch employers' 75% citing lack of knowledge, and 40% finding it inapplicable. The EEI advocates for balanced employment policies.